


Silver by Moonlight

by Kantayra



Category: Vampire Knight
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-05
Updated: 2011-08-05
Packaged: 2017-10-22 06:06:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/234691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kantayra/pseuds/Kantayra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the shadows, Kaname watched and waited, while Yuki lived her human life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver by Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lastingdreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastingdreams/gifts).



In the shadows, Kaname watched and waited.

It hadn’t always been like this. Once, he and his beloved had been one in every way imaginable – one blood, one heart, one eternity. Even after her memory loss, Yuki had still trusted him. That childlike innocence she had displayed toward him at first had warmed his heart more than the sweetest blood. Back then, it had still been painful that _his_ Yuki was gone, but it had been bearable because _this_ Yuki was happy and close and clearly loved him dearly. Those days now felt easy by comparison.

What Kaname hadn’t fully been able to conceive of until then was that humans _changed_. And Yuki, living as a human, changed as well. One night fell to the next for all eternity for Kaname. What he was one day and the day after never changed, never abated. He was immortal in all senses of the world, and although he’d seen humans be born, grow, and die all around him, he’d never really realized what that _meant_.

And then Yuki, living among the humans, changed with them. Yuki grew and matured until one day – one agonizing day – she didn’t look on Kaname with the same unconditional love that she had before. Something had changed – _Yuki_ had changed – and although Kaname was still the same as ever, they would never again be what they once were.

It was nearly incomprehensible to an eternal being like Kaname. It seemed that one moment Yuki rushed into his arms with a smile, and the next she blanched at his touch, drew back with genuine terror in her eyes like he was some kind of monster. And, to a human, he supposed that he was.

Yuki was still _respectful_ , of course. Polite. She remembered owing him her life. But there was a distance to her words and smiles now. They no longer fully belonged to Kaname. Instead, they belonged to the struggling Level E in making at her side. A creature theoretically more dangerous than Kaname himself. The words and smiles she gave _him_ were genuine, warm, full of love and forgiveness.

Zero.

Kaname had never in his long life wanted to rip another being to shreds with own hands with so little justification. The _anger_ he felt, then carefully hid away, every time Yuki turned to Zero with trust in her eyes while she balked from Kaname, was all-consuming. Terrifying.

Kaname had worked for peace between humans and vampires for a long time, but he’d never really understood the importance of such a thing until Yuki became human. Was it always to be this way between their two kinds? Could a human ever truly trust a predator of the night? _Should_ a human ever trust a vampire?

Kaname loved Yuki more than everything else in the world, but even to him the temptation to hurt her was immense. Not physically, of course; Kaname could never bear that. But he could see now the way a human’s heart bled whenever they lost someone dear to them. It explained the vehemence of the hunters, the blind fury of so many loved ones of victims past. In a way, vampires and humans were identical in this. Take away that which they love and either side could become a beast, a raging monster with no thought but for cold vengeance.

If Kaname had anything to say about it, Yuki would never become such a monster. And for her sake, he quelled the jealousy in his heart and kept himself from becoming a monster, too.

So Kaname watched and waited from the shadows. And every time he saw Yuki’s smile or heard her laugh, a part of him died that it was not for him, but a larger, nobler part knew that he had been _right_. If, even for a moment, Yuki could escape the Kuran curse and find a moment of happiness, Kaname was justified in letting her believe she was human. As such, Yuki experienced joy in a way that Kaname never could, with his family legacy constantly weighing him down. For Yuki, Kaname would bear that curse alone.

In the end, he thought that this was what love was. True love. If he suffered only so that Yuki could be happy even for a brief moment in their endless lifetimes, then that was a sacrifice worth making. If Yuki chose Zero over him – if that was what truly made her _smile_ – then Kaname would endure it.

One day, he knew, their haven would be breached. Neither vampires nor humans could let Yuki have this sliver of happiness for long. But, for as long as he could, Kaname would preserve it. For her and her alone.

One day, the storm would come.

But until then, in the shadows, Kaname watched and waited.


End file.
